Railway-rail.



No. 699,|73. lP aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa 2.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CLINTON EARLE HOOVEN ANDl JAMES W. SEE, OF HAMILTON, OHIO.

RAILWAY-RAIL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 699,173, dated May 6, 1902.

Application filed February 17, 1902. Serial No. 94,339. (No model.)

ilton, Ohio,) have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Rails, of

which the following is a specification.

Thisinvention,pertainingtoimprovements in railway-rails, will be readily understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in whichv Figure l is a vertical transverse section of a railway-rail exemplifying our invention; Fig. 2, a plan of the same; Fig. 3, a sideelevation of the same, and Fig. 4 a vertical transverse section of the rail of Fig. l modified in View of extraordinary depth of rail.

In modern electric railway developments a serious problem has arisen owing to diversity of gages interfering with interchange of cars on urban and suburban tracks, the result being that a transfer -of passengers often becomes necessary where a suburban line meets a city line. The difference between gages is in many and most cases too slight to permit of the narrow-gage track beinglaid between therails of the broad-gage track, and the use of a single added inner rail for the narrowgage track is'very objectionable, as it throws the cars for one of the gages out of center with the track of the other gage, thus interf fering with proper side clearance for cars, motormen being very liable under such circum stances to overlook the one-sided condition of affairs when passing obstructions at the,

side of the track. In our construction we provide each rail with a double tread, thus providing a track wit-h four treads for two diiferent gagesthe system well lending itself to all ordinary dierences in gages.

In the drawings, ignoring Fig. 4 entirely for the present, l indicates that portion of the head of the rail constituting the tread for the broader gage; 2, that vportion of thehead of the rail constituting the'tread for the narrow gage; 3,the groove between the two treads to accommodate the flanges of the wheels of the broad-gage cars; 4, that portion of the head of the rail constituting a l guard or curb for.

" the narrow-gage tread; 5, the groove between this guard and the narrow-gage tread to accommodate the anges of the narrow-gage wheels; 6, theouter web of the rail, `the same being disposed below the broad-gage tread; 7, the inner web of the rail,the same being disposed below the narrow-gage tread; 8, bolts th rough the two webs and holding themitoward each other; 9, outer flanges on web 7, one at the-foot of the web and one at its upper por- -tionbelow the narrow-gage tread,these dan ges of the rail, and 14 the gaging-point for the narrow-gage tread.

Flanges 9 and l0 have edge clearance, so as to provide for proper draft as i,loolts 8 draw the two webs toward each other, flanges 10 wedging rmly in between ianges 9, whereby the two members of" the vrail become rigidly unified, .reinforcing each other and giving great stiffness to the general structure both vertically and horizontally.

vWhere it is desired to employ a rail of extraordinary depthwithout the necessity for increasing the thickness ofthe webs in order to resist the strain of the bolts, two lines of bolts may be employed in connection with intermediate strut-ribs .15, as indicated in Fig. 4. Y

In laying the rail the two members Aof a length may be bolted or riveted together with their ends even, abutting length being joined up by splice-bars, as usual; vvbut the nature of the structure is such as to avoid the necessity for special splice-bars, and at the same time a practically continuous rail may be secured. Thus, as seen inFigs. 2 and 3, thetwo members of the rail may be lapped half the length of the members, the members thus breaking joint with each other and forming a practically continuous rail. This lapping of the members instead of being half the length of IOO great degree the merits of a continuous rail along with extraordinary stiffness and uniformity of stidness.

The box-like structure of the rail also well lends itself to the inclosure of the electric bonds which may be employed at the joints, thus rendering impossible the pilfering of rail-bonds, which is a common annoyance on suburban tracks where the bonds are exposed.

VVe claim as our inventionl. A duplex railwayrail comprising an outer tread portion, an inner tread portion separated from the outer tread portionA by a groove, and an inner guard portion separated from the inner tread portion by a groove.

2. A duplex railway-rail comprising an outer tread portion having a web and foot and inwardly-projecting flanges, an inner tread having a web aud inner foot and outwardlyprojecting ared fianges engaging. the firstmentioned flanges, and bolts through the two webs.

3. A duplex railwayrail comprising an outer tread portion having a web and outer foot and beveled inner flanges, an inner tread portion having a web and inner foot and inner guard and inner flanges fitting the firstmentioncd flanges, and bolts through the two webs.

4.. In a railway-rail, the combination, substantiall y as set'forth, of a web having a tread portion and foot-fiange at one side and a pair of projecting fianges at the other side, a second web having a pair of side anges adapted to engage the first-mentioned fianges, and bolts through the two webs.

5. In a railway-rail the combination, substantially as set forth, of a length of web having a tread portion and a foot-flange projecting from one of its sides and a pair of flanges projecting from its other side, a length of y web disposed alongside the first-mentioned web and breakingjoint therewith and having a foot-flange at one side and a pair of flanges at the other side engaging the first-mentioned ang'e, and bolts through the two webs.

CLINTON EARLE I-IOOVEN. JAMES' W. SEE. Witnesses:

J. S. HoovEN, ROBERT MoK. SEE. 

